Veridian Shores

Chapter 38 - Blood

This was the right place, Brooke was sure of it. The images she'd extracted from Gliss blood were clear enough. She recognised the enormous central bunker and its tendrils that webbed across the quarry floor like ivy.

But something didn't seem right. As they looked down on it from the vantage point of the quarry office she couldn't see any kind of guard patrols, or feel any presences outside the walls. Something strong and indefinable throbbed in the central building but she couldn't figure out exactly what it was. Other than that, the place seemed deserted.

"Where the hell is everyone?" Arcil grunted, echoing her thoughts. "I'd expect an army to be out patrolling these walls with what they've got in there."

Brooke nodded in agreement. She slipped her duelling rods free from their sheaths, needing something to occupy her hands. She twirled them experimentally, examining the points with a critical eye. An uneasy tension had settled on the group as they waited for the two scouts to return – the thing lurking down the quarry seemed to taint the air around them. She couldn't block it out, and she could feel the twinging n the Aspects of the others. They felt it too.

Moving away from the Baelock Elder-Blood, she stood beside Capper, who currently stared at the quarry offices, statuesque.

"You can feel that, can't you?" he said quietly. "The ... thing down there."

"Yes."

"We might be too late."

"We don't know that." She touched his arm gently, pulling his gaze to her. "One thing at a time, okay? Let's get down there first."

He nodded, but didn't speak. She could feel the unease coiling through him; the guilt. Brooke wished she had something more comforting to say to him, but at the end of the day, he bore a significant portion of the blame for their current predicament. Did he deserve to have that assuaged? She wasn't really sure.

The scuffle of booted feet roused the rest of the group from their positions and she stepped away from Capper, sliding down into a fighting stance and closing a hand around one of her duelling rods, ready to draw. Bolt throwers tracked two dark shapes that came skittering back down the embankment, and Brooke could see the flash of red hair; Lucille out in front with the Baelock guard, Altus, hot on her heels.

Lucille vaulted over a long, low spur of broken masonry before coming to a halt, breathing lightly, and nodded to them. "It's clear."

"No guards?" Arcil inquired suspiciously, looking to Altus for confirmation.

"She's right," the Baelock vampire said grudgingly. "There are signs of guard positions but it seems they were abandoned in a hurry."

"Any idea why?"

"Couldn't say, but there's something stirring down in the main bunker. I've never really felt anything like it before."

"I agree." Lucille cast an uneasy glance back up the ridge. "But whatever is going on down there, it's left the way clear. We can ride the rail from the quarry office right down to the main complex with no-one to stop us."

"Alright then," Capper murmured, tossing his bag aside to reveal the glittering structure of his axe. "Then we're going in. Doesn't look like we'll get a better chance."

Arcil smiled darkly and gestured to the hill. "After you."

With Finbarr and Booke flanking him, Capper led the way upward. Close behind, Arcil and his guards formed a skirmish line, and behind them came the rest of the Glaive contingent, including Lilly, who, Brooke realised, seemed to have taken to stealth rather well. With a weak, unobtrusive Aspect that wouldn't draw attention and a feather-light step, she was actually very hard to keep track of when she tried.